


of hope and family

by skyqueenclarke



Series: children of desert, born to reach the sky [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Gen, i assume rey is a skywalker, rey's unamed mother
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-28
Updated: 2015-12-28
Packaged: 2018-05-10 01:37:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5563810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skyqueenclarke/pseuds/skyqueenclarke
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is what Rey remembers: a sad woman, a ship driving away and a little girl, left alone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	of hope and family

**Author's Note:**

> SPOILERS for Force Awakens and a lot of speculation.

Rey does not know this, but even though her mother loved her more than anything, from the second she was born, a part of the woman would always regret bringing her into this world.

Rey was no ordinary child, and it’s one thing to know their stories, to lay a kiss on a Jedi Master, to smile at a General, and another altogether to hold a precious, innocent child in her arms and know that the child’s story would be one of legends.

Rey doesn’t remember her mother’s name, but she remembers her smile – kind, but always restrained, sad somehow. Skywalkers do not have easy and happy stories, and Rey couldn’t have known that every time her mother looked at her, the woman saw the power to reshape the galaxy – for better and worse.

When Rey was a child, a long time before the desert, she used to cry herself horse, as babies do, and the lights had flickered, the flames had burned brighter - the whole world seemed to respond to her cries.

A terrible thing it is, to fear your own child’s power.

Leia had understood her son’s power, respected it, even despised it - been afraid for him, for the galaxy, but never _of_ him, no. How could she, when the same power flowed through her own veins?

Rey’s mother used to wonder if Han feared his son, even if just a little.

She never gathered the courage to ask.

 

In a world that never was, the woman flees before Luke finds out about the child. She hides herself amidst forests or deserts or seas, anywhere far enough that he won’t think to look.

In that world, she tells herself her child will grow happy and ignorant, with laughter and tears, and that Rey’s fate will be simple and mundane, far away from the Force’s great plans.

In that world, whether she dies or not, whether Luke finds her or not, she would have learned that there’s no escape.

The Force finds the Skywalkers, always – their power shines too brightly for they to remain tucked away in a corner of the galaxy.

Through Jedis, droids or boy-soldiers, their fate will come calling, sooner or later.

 

She still tries running, though.

She takes Rey away – Luke maybe senses her unease, but not her plans. She knows he wouldn’t let his daughter go.

But she looks at Ben, that serious, powerful boy, and sees nothing but darkness ahead. Leia and Luke believe so blindly in the power of light, and Han wouldn’t think to disagree with them, not on this.

But she remembers Darth Vader. Luke’s stories of a sad old man can’t erase the image of that unfeeling man, covered in black.

Her daughter will have another fate, even if she has to die to ensure it.

 

Luke can’t find her, the way she cut him from her mind, and took Rey far enough he couldn’t reach her. She’s still a child, changes daily, and her Force signature evolves, enough that’s it will be hard for Luke to locate her.

But Ben finds her.

He calls himself Kylo Ren, but he’s still the same boy, just as lost and strange as before, always unfit for the legacy of his parents. Well. He clearly has chosen another legacy for himself.

She expected some regret or hesitation, but he’s a force of nature, just as unstoppable as those who came before, and she doesn’t even has time to scream before she sees the red blade.

The Light seems to have left him. Selfishly – and maybe hopelessly - she still hopes, in that last moment, it won’t leave Rey.

 

Rey is afraid. She’s strong in the Force, but untrained – knows something has happened, but can’t say what exactly. There’s a boy, dressed in black, in front of her.

He knows what is expected of him.

Slowly, he extends his hand for her. She looks him in the eye, and, with no hesitation, gives him her hand.

 

Rey asks for her mother.

There’s still enough of Ben in him that he knows he can’t tell her the truth.

_She’ll come back for you,_ he says, even though he knows she won’t. Her eyes tell him she’ll remember this, but he uses the Force to make it stick.

_They’ll be back for you._

She’s just a child. There’s not much she’ll remembers of a life before this, but he hides it anyway. It’s a cruel galaxy out there and she’s just a little girl.

Everyone will be better off if she just stays hidden forever.

When he leaves, she screams, begs him to come back. He considers turning back. Training her, like he said he would, a lifetime ago.

(killing her)

Instead, he closes his eyes, takes a deep breath and makes himself forget.

 

Luke feels the echoes of his wife’s death. He doesn’t feel Rey’s, not really, but her absence, too far to reach, it’s enough for him to guess. He takes it as a punishment from the Force – after failing so miserably, it’s fitting he shouldn’t be allowed to feel his daughter presence, not even one last time.

Leia, still drowning in grief and her own failures, doesn’t lose hope, somehow.

(Luke leaves for many reasons, but having to feel his sister’s hope for her niece when he’s so sure she’s lost is definitely one of them. But twins balance each other – if he can’t believe, she will)

 

Almost fifteen years later, Leia hugs a beautiful, powerful girl to her chest, and still hopes. She sends her to Luke with their father’s weapon, her husband’s ship, and his own droid.

_Bring him home,_ she tells Rey, who misses the significance, but still feels the importance of the words.

_And then we will bring Ben home,_ she doesn’t say. She thinks Han would forgive their son, even after everything, and that he would definitely forgive her, for still believing.

Hope is important for the Skywalkers, after all.

(hope and family, is all they have, and the first one far more often than the second)

 

 

Here’s what Rey doesn’t remember.

She’s a child – no more than a baby - with bright brown eyes. _Just like Mother’s,_ he thinks. The boy is strange and confused, but she likes him.

He’s got a focused look on his eyes – he holds out his hand and makes a rock float near her eyes.

She laughs, reaching out. He smiles at her.

_I think,_ he says, very slowly, _you’re the only who can understand._ She keeps smiling, hanging tight to him.

For just a little while, the world is bright.

 

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my version of how Rey may have ended up in Jakku! I feel like fandom should speculate more on how Rey's mother may have been involved in that. 
> 
> Next, I'll try explaining the human mess that is Ben Solo. 
> 
> Follow me on tumblr! - skyqueenclarke.tumblr.com


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